Missing Pieces
by QueenCate
Summary: [AU] Lilly calls Veronica after leaving the Echolls' and tells Veronica to meet her at the Kane house. But when Lilly gets held up, what will happen to Veronica when someone arrives for an angry confrontation? Spoilers through 1.22
1. Like a Good Little Girl

The light changed from blinding yellow to glaring red. To most people, that glaring red screamed "Stop!" but Lilly Kane wasn't most people. Instead, she let out a whoop and slammed her foot on the gas pedal, tearing through the intersection at a breakneck speed.

The familiar beginning strains of a song managed to reach her ears over the sound of the wind whipping through her hair and she cranked the volume, spiritedly singing along to "We Used to be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols. "A long time ago, we used to be friends…" she belted out, tapping the steering wheel to keep the beat. Her right hand unconsciously traveled onto the passenger seat and fingered the tapes that lay there. A mischievous smirk slowly spread across her gloss coated lips. She dug into her designer pocketbook and withdrew her cell phone. Pressing one of the speed dials, she brought the phone to her ear and used her shoulder to wedge it in place. After a moment, she said, "Veronica! Hey! Listen, I want you to meet me at my house a-sap…It's a secret…Why, yes, I do have a lot of those don't I? See you soon, V."

Flipping the phone shut, Lilly tossed it onto the other seat and returned her attention to the road. Her foot stomped onto the gas pedal as she approached another red light. She was going so fast that she failed to spot the police cruiser parked at a nearby gas station. Seconds later, screaming sirens caught her attention as flashing lights filled her vision, making her slightly dizzy.

"Shit," she muttered. For a moment, Lilly contemplated giving the cop a chase, but remembered the tapes on the seat. No way were those getting confiscated. She wanted to be the one who decided where they went. So Lilly pulled over and checked her makeup before slipping a mask of innocence over her face and rolling down the window. Pushing her lips into a pouty smile and tilting her head, she greeted the deputy as he approached.

"Hello, Deputy…Leo. I'm sorry, was I speeding?"

-x-

Tucking her long blond hair behind her ears, Veronica got out of her father's car, thanking him for the ride and apologizing for canceling their dinner plans before kissing him goodbye and striding towards the seemingly empty Kane mansion. Lilly must have parked in the garage or something, she thought. Veronica knocked a few times and waited, waited for someone to answer, but no one came. Not even the cleaning service was there. Rather than sitting on the front step, where it was much more likely she would run into Duncan, she walked around back and settled into one of the lounge chairs.

Her pep squad shirt rode up her stomach and Veronica fruitlessly tugged at it. She still wasn't used to wearing clothes like this, although Lilly assured her that she looked "trés hot." A car pulled into the driveway and for a second, Veronica thought it was Lilly, but the footsteps were too heavy to be Lilly's. Assuming they were Duncan's, Veronica sank a little farther down in her chair, not wanting to deal with the pain of being ignored by the boy she loved.

A beam of sunlight reflected off something lying by the pool, catching Veronica's eye. She climbed off the chair and crouched down next to the object. Slowly she lifted the shining silver necklace, admiring for the hundredth time the way the light bounced off the charm, which spelled out her name. She remembered when Duncan had given the necklace to her, right after her sixteenth birthday party. Right before he promised he would love her forever. How quickly he forgot, Veronica thought wryly. The footsteps were coming closer, breaking Veronica out of her dreamlike reminiscing. The last thing she needed was Duncan catching her mooning over him.

She quickly stood up but before she could turn around a harsh male voice that definitely wasn't Duncan's called out, "Give me the tapes, Lilly, you stupid bitch." This man, unable to see her face, only her cascading blond hair and pep squad uniform, had confused her with Lilly.

She whirled around, trembling with fear, to correct the stranger. His eyes widened when he realized his mistake. They were almost as wide as Veronica as her mind raced, wondering what tapes he was talking about and why he would talk to Lilly the way he had spoken to her seconds ago. "Mr. Echolls?" she asked tentatively.

"Oh, Veronica, hello. What are you doing here?" Aaron Echolls twisted his face out of it's contortion of rage and attempted to rearrange it into an expression of kindness and innocence that didn't quite work.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she shot back, her voice growing stronger. Instinct told her that she shouldn't stay alone with Mr. Echolls for too long. She hoped Lilly or even Duncan got home in the next minute or two.

"Well, Veronica," Aaron began, taking a step closer. "Lilly took something of mine – accidentally, I'm sure – but I need it back now." As he spoke, Aaron had inched closer to Veronica and was now only a few feet away.

Veronica backed up as far as she could, stopping only when she could hear the gentle lapping of the pool water and realized she couldn't back up any further without falling in. "What does she have of yours?"

Aaron shook his head and crossed the distance between them. "Veronica, does it really matter? Now why don't you just forget about this and go home like a good little girl."

Deciding it was best to play along, Veronica nodded shakily, side stepping Aaron and quickly walking in the direction of the back door. She hadn't gone more than two feet when the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she instinctively ducked. The air over her head whistled as a cigar box cut through it. Rolling out from under Aaron's arms, Veronica jumped to her feet and sprinted to the door as fast as she could, but Aaron was faster by far and overtook her. He pressed upon her airway and slowly Veronica's world gave way to black nothingness.


	2. Who Would Suspect?

Lilly slowed almost to a stop as she drove up her road. Logan's car was parked in her driveway, partially hidden from view by a cluster of bushes. Sighing heavily, she pulled to a stop several feet from her house, so as not to alert Logan to her presence. She wanted to hide the tapes before she confronted him. With another sigh, she climbed from the car, clutching the bag containing the tapes. The day had been going so well, too. She had managed to sweet talk that officer into letting her off with a warning – her third that week – but had to make herself drive under the speed limit the rest of the way because as stealthy as Deputy Leo undoubtedly thought he was being, Lilly saw him following her home to make sure she didn't speed the second she got around the corner. Loser, she thought.

As Lilly approached the house, however, Logan came flying around the side of the house.

"Lilly! Thank God you're all right!" he yelled, wrapping her in a smothering hug. She pushed him off and stared at him, wondering if he had left his mind in Tijuana.

"Logan, _what_ are you talking about?"

Logan gestured wildly towards the backyard he had been waiting in. "There's blood, on the patio. I thought something happened to you. Or Duncan."

"Duncan's at practice, Logan. I'm sure he's fine. Show me what you're talking about," Lilly ordered, not protesting when he took her hand to lead her around back. His hand felt slippery in hers and Lilly realized that her heart was beating double time. Her thoughts flew to Veronica, wondering if she had been here, if it was her blood. Logan stopped short and Lilly, who hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking, bumped into him. "Oomph." Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the pool of blood that lay at their feet. Next to it lay half of a silver necklace, glinting in the sunlight. Veronica's necklace. Her cell phone was out in an instant. "Hello, Mr. Mars? It's Lilly…Is Veronica there?…You did? When?…No, I think you should get out here. I think Veronica's been hurt." When Lilly hung up her phone, Logan was staring at the back of her head. She could feel his eyes boring a hole into her.

"Lilly," he said softly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on, Logan," Lilly answered cattily. "Why don't you just…" Her voice trailed off as she whirled around and took in the wounded expression on Logan's face. She sighed and asked, "What are you doing here, Logan?"

Rubbing his eyes in exasperation, Logan told her, "I-I came to see you. I know you're seeing someone, Lilly. Don't try to hide it. Now tell me, what happened to Veronica?"

"I don't know, Logan!" she shrieked, fists beating against his chest. "If I did, do you think I'd be standing here fighting with you? I'd be out there finding her. It's my fault she was here!" Strong arms gripped Lilly, pulling her away from Logan and a familiar voice that she couldn't quite place was telling her to calm down. A second later, she was glaring into the face of Deputy Leo. "Let…me…go!" she demanded, struggling to escape from his hold.

"No," he said simply, tightening his grip. "Not unless you promise to stop yelling and hitting people because that's bad."

Lilly narrowed her eyes dangerously, but agreed to be a good little girl. Taking a seat on the closest lounge chair, Lilly let her head sag into her hands and whispered, "It's my fault she was here. What if she's…dead?"

Keith Mars arrived on the scene several long minutes later, a flurry of blazing lights, shrieking sirens, and bark-like orders. He raced around back, flanked by a dozen of his deputies, stopping short in front of the pool of blood. Lilly saw his eyes stray to the broken chain lying beside it. His eyes glistened with tears as he lifted his gaze to Lilly, but when he spoke he was all business. "What happened, Lilly?"

-x-

Groaning almost inaudibly, Veronica forced her eyelids to flutter open. For a moment she thought they hadn't opened, but then realized that the darkness obscuring her vision wasn't her eyelids but the lack of light wherever she was. Her hand tightened around a tiny object gripped in her right hand. Slowly she fingered the delicate letters that spelled out the first half of her name. Duncan will be so mad that I broke it, she told herself. Then, realizing how dumb it was to be worrying about Duncan then, she shook herself, gasping when a surge of pain shot through her head. Only then did she realize her tangled hair felt wet. A nauseating copper-like smell filled her nostrils, confirming Veronica's fears that it was blood.

"Veronica." The harsh sound of her name on his lips sent chills racing up and down her spine. "You know, I didn't want to do this. It's all Lilly's fault, really. If she hadn't taken those damn tapes, none of this would have had to happen. And in all honesty, I'm sorry you had to get involved because you're a sweet girl. Logan's always liked you, which makes me feel bad that I'm going to have to kill you. It's nothing against you; I just couldn't risk you figuring out what was going on. Keeping you little friend Lilly quiet is hard enough. It's a shame, though. You're not half bad looking."

Clearing her throat, Veronica rasped, "What if I promise to never find out? I'm a blonde and you know what they say about us. There's no guarantee I'll ever figure it out. So maybe you could let me go?"

Aaron laughed maniacally. "No, I don't think I can do that, Veronica. See, now you know too much and I'm not angling to get charged for kidnapping you. Bad for my career, you know." She could practically hear him shaking his head as he added, "No, we'll just wait until the search winds down and then I'll dump your body somewhere and get back to my life. After all, who would ever suspect me, Aaron Echolls, of kidnapping and murdering a nobody like Veronica Mars?"

---x---

_Okay, I suck. I know this and I'm sorry. My only excuse is the usual one: life. But it's summer break now, so I promise I'll try to update this and everything else much more frequently in the next few months and hopefully even wrap up some, if not all, of my fics. Once again, I'm really sorry for the freakishly long wait and I really hope I didn't lose all my readers._

_- Cate_


	3. Dammit

Lilly lay back on her bed then turned onto her side. She groaned and turned to the other side, onto her stomach, onto her back again. Finally she laid her head at the end of the bed and covered her face with a pillow.

It was ridiculous, really. Veronica had been kidnapped. _Veronica_. All her life, Lilly had been surrounded by security guards, surveillance cameras, tall gates, the works. All of it for the express purpose of keeping her safe from kidnappers and other creeps. And yet it was Veronica who was taken, just because she happened to be at Lilly's house at the wrong time.

"Dammit!" she yelled, slapping the pillow over her face angrily. Unfortunately, she also smacked herself in the nose. "Ow." She sighed and rolled onto her side again, letting the pillow drop to the plush carpet. Normally when she was feeling like this, she would call up her best friend and make plans to do something distracting, but that wasn't an option anymore.

"This is all my fault!" Lilly said loudly. She picked up the pillow and laid it back on her face, screaming into it. The tears came then, in deep, wrenching sobs, and she didn't think they would ever stop.

-x-

Down the hall, Duncan was trying desperately to avoid his own meltdown by concentrating on a video game. Normally, he would make a bet with Logan, his opponent, as to who would tear the other person's spine out, but not now. Everything he had was going into keeping that blind rage from overtaking him.

"They'll find her, man," Logan said quietly. He had been silently observing his friend. That explained his dismal game score.

Duncan remained stony faced, watching his guy get blown to smithereens. He chucked the controller at the TV, barely missing it.

"Dammit!" Lilly yelled from down the hall. "This is all my fault!" He picked up the faintest sobs and it was enough to set him off. He couldn't avoid it any longer.

"God dammit!" he screamed, thrusting his fist through the wall.

-x-

Jake paced along his home office, urging the Sheriff's Department to put everything they had into finding Veronica Mars. As if they needed any more incentive. Deputy Lamb assured him they were doing just that.

"Oh yeah? They why aren't you out there searching?"

"Someone has to answer the phones."

"Let me speak to Keith Mars," Jake commanded, leaning over the speakerphone.

"No can do, sir. He's out coordinating the search."

Of course he was. He believed Veronica to be his own daughter, his flesh and blood. Jake knew differently. Veronica had to be his, right? But if it motivated Keith to find Veronica, fine. He want – no, needed – her back. Even if he couldn't tell her the truth, couldn't hug her like he had his other children before they started hating him, he still wanted her, still loved to hear her walk through that door with her sister. For a moment, he could even pretend that his life had turned out the way it should have, that he had three beautiful children with his high school sweetheart and they all lived happily in a mansion a mile from the beach. But that picture always faded, leaving him with two children who hated him and a distant wife who hated him even more. He terminated the call to the Sheriff's Department and slapped the desk.

"Dammit!"

-x-

Celeste swirled her drink, taking tiny sips as she listened to her family, each one breaking down over that wench, Veronica Mars. It figured that the only way she could screw with Celeste's life more than with daily visits in which her family gravitated towards her immediately was by not being there.

She tipped her head back and down the rest of her drink. It was going to be a very long night.

Celeste really hated Veronica Mars.

-x-

Logan stayed as long as he could. He knew that with his mom out of town, he couldn't trust anyone at home to lend a sympathetic ear. When he let himself into his silent house, he said a little prayer of thanks that it was empty. He made his way to his room and collapsed onto the bed, rubbing his arm. A nasty bruise was starting to form where Duncan had accidentally punched him. He sighed. He never realized how much he cared about Veronica before. She was just always there, Lilly's best friend, Duncan's girl. Always the perfect young lady, quiet when she should be, outspoken when the occasion called for it, at once serious and funny, just the ideal girl. And he took her for granted. She faded into the wallpaper when Lilly was around. But now, quite possibly for the first time ever, he saw her clearly. And he missed her like hell.

-x-

Keith had choked back the sobs, the crippling fear, when he realized why Lilly Kane had called him. He had forced it down, kept it hidden while the efficient sheriff in him took over, coordinating the search, gathering details like as what she was wearing, supplying a recent photo, interviewing the Kanes' neighbors, the usual routine. The whole time, he kept seeing one image in his mind: Veronica's broken necklace lying in a puddle of blood.

They say the odds of finding a missing person alive are cut in half every hour. The timeline they had constructed suggested she had been taken three hours ago. That put the odds of finding his daughter alive at 12.5.

The head of the forensic team approached him and confirmed what he already knew. The blood was Veronica's. The odds just went down a little more.

-x-

Darkness settled just as the search was starting. Lilly could hear the searchers shouting, could see the flashlight beams traveling back and forth across the lawn. An idea struck her and she wondered how she could be so selfish that she didn't think of it before. All she had been thinking about was her own fear, her own pain. What about Veronica? They had to find her.

She strode purposefully down the hall and threw Duncan's bedroom door open. She noticed the bandaged wrapped around his right fist and grabbed the other hand to drag him out of the house.

"C'mon, we're gonna help search."

Duncan nodded blankly, following his sister to the front door.

"Lilly, Duncan, where are you going?"

"We're going to look for Veronica, Dad." Lilly stared at him, silently asking him to join them as she knew he wanted to. Jake made to follow them, but Celeste entered the room.

"Jake," she said icily.

He froze and shook his head sadly.

"Go on, then."

Lilly nodded, finally understanding just how weak her father was. She led the way to her car, getting in fist. She caught sight of the tapes. After everything that had happened, she had forgotten about them. She quickly stowed them under her seat as Duncan slid into the passenger seat.

"What was that?"

Lilly responded by turning on the radio and backing out of the driveway. The tapes had sent her mind whirling. Did she now have guilt to add to that list of emotions she was feeling?

-x-

Logan stared up at the same patch of ceiling he had been watching all afternoon. His father had come in a little while ago and gone straight to his own room. Logan didn't budge until an idea struck him. How selfish was he that he hadn't thought of it before?

Hopping to his feet, he grabbed a flashlight and made his way to the front door, making a mental note to go get Lilly and Duncan to help. He pulled open the door and stepped back, surprised to see Lilly, her hand poised to knock.

"Let's go," she said simply, turning and walking back to the car.


End file.
